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THE EUROPEAN FREE TRADE ASSOCIATION and THE EFTA STATISTICAL OFFICE

THE EUROPEAN FREE TRADE ASSOCIATION and THE EFTA STATISTICAL OFFICE. Luxembourg, October 2012 Andrea Scheller Head of the EFTA Statistical Office. Agenda. The European Free Trade Association Setting the Scene EFTA Today EFTA Trade (Free Trade Agreements) European Economic Area (EEA)

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THE EUROPEAN FREE TRADE ASSOCIATION and THE EFTA STATISTICAL OFFICE

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  1. THE EUROPEAN FREE TRADE ASSOCIATIONandTHE EFTA STATISTICAL OFFICE Luxembourg, October 2012 Andrea Scheller Head ofthe EFTA Statistical Office

  2. Agenda The European Free Trade Association • Setting the Scene • EFTA Today • EFTA Trade (Free Trade Agreements) • European Economic Area (EEA) The EFTA Statistical Office • EFTA Statistical Office (ESO) • Why statistical co-operation? • Eurostat and the European Statistical System • EFTA statistical cooperation - EEA statistical cooperation - Technical cooperation and training programmes • ESO Activities

  3. What is Europe? Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_integration

  4. Setting the scene

  5. History of EFTA 1960: EFTA founded by the “Outer Seven” (Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK) 1970: Iceland joins EFTA 1973: Denmark and the UK leave EFTA to join the EEC (Norway says no) 1979: EFTA’s first Free Trade Agreement signed with Spain 1985: Portugal leaves for EU 1986: Finland joins EFTA 1991: Liechtenstein joins EFTA

  6. History of EFTA 1992: The EEA Agreement is signed (entry into force in 1994; Switzerland says no) 1995: Austria, Finland and Sweden leave EFTA to join EU (Norway says no) 2001: Vaduz Convention signed 2004: EEA enlargement (EU-25) 2007: Further EEA enlargement (EU-27) 2009: 15th anniversary of the EEA 2010: EFTA celebrates its 50th anniversary 2011: EFTA Statistical Office celebrates its 20th anniversary

  7. EFTA and the EU

  8. The EEA EEA 94 EEA 10 6 States 26 m. 3 States 4.8 m. 27 States 500 m. 12 States 357 m.

  9. Small in population – but big in trade • EFTA is the world’s eleventh largest trading partner for goods • EFTA is the world’s seventh largest trading partner for services • EU’s third largest trading partner for goods and services • Leaders in GDP world ranking, and important source for foreign investment Source: International Monetary Fund: World Economic Outlook Database

  10. EFTA Today

  11. EFTA institutions „EFTA four“ and „EFTA Three” • EFTA Council: Governing body of EFTA (GVA) • EFTA Standing Committee: EEA-EFTA States (BRU) • EFTA Court (LUX) • EFTA Surveillance Authority (BRU) • EFTA Secretariat (GVA, BRU, LUX)

  12. The EFTA Secretariat Services the Member State • Headquarters in Geneva (GVA), duty stations in Brussels (BRU) and Luxembourg (LUX) • Secretary-General (GVA), two deputies (GVA and BRU) and 8 Directors for • Secretary-General’s Office (GVA/BRU) • Administration (BRU/GVA) • Trade Relations Division (GVA) • EEA Coordination Division (BRU) • Goods Division (BRU) • Services, Capital, Persons and Programmes Division (BRU) • EFTA Statistical Office (LUX) • Annual budget of €25 mio • About 90 staff members

  13. Role of the EFTA Secretariat • Management of EFTA-internal free trade relations (GVA, BRU) • Support of Member States in third-country relations (GVA, LUX) • Exploration, co-ordination and organisation of FTA negotiations; • Management of FTAs and JDCs; • Technical assistance • Management of EFTA-EU relations (EEA; BRU, LUX) • Administration (Finance, HR, IT, Organisation; GVA, BRU)

  14. EFTA Trade - Free Trade Agreements

  15. FTA Network – across Europe and beyond

  16. The EuropeanEconomic Area(EEA)

  17. EEA - Internal Market 27 EU member states & 3 EEA-EFTA States: (IS, LI, NO) EU Internal Market: • Free movement of goods, services, persons and capital • Almost 500 million citizens/consumers • Homogeneous rules and conditions • Remove technical, physical and fiscal barriers (mutual recognition, standardisation) • Competition and state aid (public procurement) • Flanking and horizontal policies • EEA EFTA States take over relevant EU legislation • “Decision shaping” • Autonomous implementation • EFTA Surveillance Authority and EFTA Court

  18. Similar scheme for Switzerland: The Swiss-EU sectoral agreements http://www.europa.admin.ch/

  19. The EFTA Statistical Office (ESO)

  20. What is ESO? • EFTA Statistical Office was established in 1991 as a liaison office between Eurostat and the EFTA National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) • The EFTA NSIs are: • Statistics Iceland (Hagstofa Íslands) • Statistics Liechtenstein (Amt für Statistik Liechtenstein) • Statistics Norway (Statistisk sentralbyrå) • Swiss Federal Statistics Office (Das Bundesamt für Statistik/l’Office fédéral de la statistique) • ESOs objective is to sustain and promote the participation of EFTA States in the development of an integrated Statistical System which contributes to a European culture of evidence-based policymaking and monitoring

  21. Why statistical cooperation?

  22. Why statistical cooperation? Impartial and reliable statistical data produced by professionally independent statistical agencies are widely considered a prerequisite for a modern democratic society and a necessary condition for the smooth running of a competitive market economy. • Statistics are important for policy making in a modern society • Statistics are vital for monitoring the effects of policies • Comparable statistics across countries and regions are a necessity in a globalised society • Statistics are crucial for understanding the society around us

  23. The European Statistical System – ESS Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_integration

  24. ESS Committee: EU + EFTA = 31 European Union: 27 EEA-EFTA: 3 Swiss

  25. EFTA statistical cooperation with EU • EEA/CH – EU statistical cooperation a. EEA agreement b. Swiss - EU Agreement in the field of statistics • Technical Assistance in the field of statistics 3. European Statistical Training Programme (ESTP)

  26. EEA Statistical Cooperation The EEA agreement also includes horizontal provisions relevant to the four freedoms: R&D, Environment, Education, Consumer protection, … and Statistics.  Legal and institutional development of the EEA Agreement in the field of statistics (EEA EFTA States) • Legal Basis for the EEA Statistical Cooperation • Art. 76 of the EEA Agreement concerns statistical cooperation • Annex XXI deals with EC legislation in the field of statistics relevant for the EEA • Provisions for the organisation of statistical cooperation, including EFTA Statistical Office (ESO), are mentioned in Protocol 30

  27. EEA Statistical Cooperation Objectives of EEA Statistical Cooperation • Participation in common programmes and procedures in order to gradually achieve harmonisation for the production, transmission and dissemination of official statistics. • Legal and institutional development of the EEA Agreement in the field of statistics (EEA EFTA States) • Participation of EFTA experts to the decision-shaping • Inclusion of EFTA data in Eurostat databases and publications • Participation in EU statistical programmes and actions including the secondment of experts to Eurostat

  28. Swiss Bilateral Agreement in the field of Statistics • As of 1st January 2007 a bilateral agreement between Switzerland and the EU governs the statistical cooperation between both parties. • The Swiss Agreement ensures full participation of Switzerland in the European Statistical System. • Through this agreement Switzerland adopts European norms and standards, and Eurostat is obliged to disseminate Swiss data.

  29. Technical Assistance • EFTA and the European Union have a common interest in assisting neighbourhood countries of the enlarged European Economic Area to develop their statistical capacity and to harmonize statistical methods and standards with international norms. • The joint EFTA-Eurostat Technical Assistance programme is based on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). • The MoU covers a three-year period (2011 – 2013) and involves funds totalling 2.1 million euro. • The MoU gives priority to countries that have concluded declarations on co-operation or free trade agreements with EFTA: Western Balkans, the Mediterranean region, as well as the east boundary of the enlarged EEA.

  30. European Statistical Training Programme (ESTP) • ESTP aims to maintain a high level of competence in order to ensure constant quality throughout the European Statistical System (ESS). • EFTA is actively involved in the programme and will organise three courses in 2011 • The EFTA budget for Statistical training is about € 80,000. • EFTA-Eurostat cooperation in this field is currently based on an exchange of letters.

  31. EFTA Statistical Office (ESO) Activities

  32. ESO Activities • Working group of the Heads of EFTA NSIs • Serving the WG of the heads in all issues concerning statistical co-operation within and outside the EEA Agreement • EEA Statistical programme • Drawing up the EEA Annual Statistical Programme in close co-operation with Eurostat

  33. ESO Activities • EEA Legislation • Identifying new EU legal acts in the field of statistics and collecting comments from EFTA NSIs on the EEA relevance and adaptation requirements for Subcommittee IV • Seconded National Experts (SNEs) to Eurostat • Participating in the recruitment procedure of SNEs and assisting EFTA Brussels in all administrative issues concerning the experts

  34. ESO Activities • Eurostat meetings and EFTA participation • Participation of EFTA experts in decision-shaping  Informing EFTA NSIs of meetings organised within the framework of the ESS and announcing EFTA participation to Eurostat • Inclusion of EEA EFTA data in Eurostat publications • Following up the dissemination by Eurostat of EEA EFTA data and lobbying the European Commission for the inclusion of EEA EFTA data in publications

  35. ESO Activities • Technical Assistance • In close co-operation with Eurostat, designing and implementing technical assistance projects in the field of statistics in third-countries • Statistical Training • In close co-operation with Eurostat, designing and implementing courses in the framework of the European Statistical Training Programme (ESTP)

  36. ESO Activities • Statistics for the EFTA Secretariat Providing the EFTA Secretariat with official statistics and advising on the use of statistical information in all EFTA communication channels • Institutional coordination Coordinating institutional relations with the European Commission including the participation in negotiations of agreements within and outside the EEA Agreement • Other activities Participating in international meetings in the field of statistics organised by international organisations such as OECD, and the United Nations

  37. Useful links • EFTA websitehttp://www.efta.int/ • ESO webpagehttp://www.efta.int/statistics • Eurostat websitehttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu

  38. Takk! Merci! Takk fyrir! Grazie! Danke!Thanks! Luxembourg, October 2012 Andrea Scheller Head ofthe EFTA Statistical Office andrea.scheller@ext.ec.europa.eu

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